Nintendo has updated a video game classic and it's still a whole lot of fun.

Mike Tyson's Punch-Out was my favorite childhood video game, so when word filtered out last year that Little Mac and Doc were going to be back, I was all kinds of excited and began to block off large amounts of time on my calendar for this nostalgia title. This month Nintendo has delivered the game, although it's now called Punch-Out!! ($49.99) and has come to the Wii without its eponymous leader. The new version has kept a lot of the old favorites and added a few new wrinkles that make the game a great addition to any Wii gamer's library.

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The first thing you notice when you step into the ring in the new Punch-Out is the vastly improved graphics. Yeah, yeah, I understand that the original game was in the beautiful 8-bit format, so that's not necessarily saying much. The new game, however, flows like an Anime cartoon. It keeps the third-person view over the shoulder of the player's undersized pugilist "Little Mac," but the movements of your opponents are far smoother. They retain their old-school flavor, however: Punch-Out veterans will still recognize the subtle eyebrow movements of Piston Honda and the sartorial challenges of King Hippo.

Most of the 13 boxers are carried over from the original game (along with a couple new pugs), and so are basic character moves. But as you face off against all of these old friends you will actually have to use a bit more energy to defeat them, as you throw your punches via the Wii nunchuk controllers. The thumb stick controls whether the punches go to the head or the body, and you can throw punches with either hand. Some Punch-Out fans many not want to throw actual punches, preferring to spend their videogame time in a more restful stateI know I found myself running out of energy after a couple of hard-fought matches in PCMag.com's labs. Luckily, Nintendo understands this. You can play the game without the use of the Wii motion controls: Just turn the Wii and 90 degrees, and you can control the action just like you would on the old NES.

One of the main issues people had with the original Punch-Out was that once you figured out each boxer's unique fighting style, you could easily defeat him. This is still the case, as each of the fighters has kept his special "tell." Watch the Great Tiger's turban, for example, to catch the timing of his attacks. These tells only last until you win the title with Little Mac, however. When you set out to defend your title against all of the fighters you beat on the way up, the palookas smarten up and change their tactics. Glass Joe, for instance, takes measures to protect his weak chin. It's no longer so easy the second time through the game, which adds a lot of replayability that was lacking in the original game. That's good, but I wish Nintendo had also expanded the number of possible opponents. It did add one surprise character whose identity I won't reveal here.

Another new wrinkle in this version of Punch-Out is the addition of two-player mode. Now you and a friend can square off against each other via a split screen and test your mettle. The same rules apply as when fighting an AI opponent except you guys are actually in the same weight class. At least until one player strings together a series of punches and grows into a giant Super-Mac, that is. This bonus, exclusive to multiplayer mode, allows your newly (and temporarily) gigantified Mac to throw super-powerful punches. I was disappointed with the lack of online play. The exhibition mode was fun, however; it allows you to go back and fight you favorite opponents individually without fighting though the whole game again.

Whether the 2009 version of the game will become as popular with the latest generation of gamers as the original was many years ago is uncertain. But what is certain is that the new Punch-Out is a lot fun to play, either fighting your way to the title or just pummeling your friends locally.

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About the Author

Dan Evans is the DIY Analyst for PCMag.com. He has been at the magazine/website for over 10 years and during that tenure has worked on every product team here. When he is not building a PC from scratch he is reviewing laptops, desktops, and videogames. Before coming to PCMag.com he earned a BA in US History at Columbia University and was a membe... See Full Bio

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